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Some couples from the cantons of Zurich and Thurgau had their future adoptive child brought to them from India. Others travelled to India themselves to collect the child. Flight attendants were often asked by Terre des Hommes and Adoption International, for example, to accompany the children.[FN1 StATG 4'635, 10/13, letter from Terre des Hommes to Infirmerie de l'Aéroport (airport infirmary) in Geneva, 11 April 1978 and StATG 4'635, 0/4, "Wegweiser Indien, Dokumente, nötig für Indien" (India guide, required documents for India) by AdInt, 1.6. 1985.]
The Indian babies and toddlers were flown from what were then the cities of Bombay, Calcutta, Bangalore and New Delhi to Zurich Kloten or Geneva Cointrin airports. Several airlines proved particularly helpful in facilitating intercontinental transfers of children. In 1981, Christina Inderbitzin, an adoption agent based in the canton of Zurich, emphasised the helpful role played by Swiss Air, in the Swiss women's magazine Femina: "We have established a travel/transport agreement with a Swissair contact person in Switzerland and in Bombay that works very well."[FN2 BAR E4300C-01#1998/299#608*, magazine article by Ursula Dubois, "Nur stetige Bemühungen führen zum Ziel", Femina, no. 18, 9. 9. 1981, p. 75.] In the Air India in-flight magazine, Geneva-based adoption agent Jo Millar also stated that this airline had "once again shown itself to be generous and helpful".[FN3 BAR E2200.64#1998/111#22*, Tara Ali Baig, "Adoption is a New Life", Swagat (Air India inflight magazine), March 1989, p. 129.]
In India, however, the 'air escort system' was criticised. For example, in 1982, the Indian legal scholar M. J. Antony described this transfer of babies abroad by off-duty airline staff as often "clandestine and inhumane".[FN4 M. J. Antony, Child Adoption. Law and Malpractices. New Delhi 1984, p. 15.] The renowned Indian lawyer Laxmikant Pandey took a critical stance on intercountry adoption. For him, the children risked their lives on the way to foreign countries, were often inadequately cared for and were in danger of being exploited and abused. He therefore petitioned the Indian Supreme Court to establish guidelines to ensure the babies' safety.
The 'Laxmikant-Pandey guidelines' came into force following the court's landmark judgment in 1984..
